I go to a private university. The biggest and best Baptist University in the world, as a matta fact Baylor rocks. One of the lowest tuitions in the nation among top 100 private schools.
i go to a private international school too! there's no way i would send my children to state schools in england. state primary schools, maybe, i went to one and it wasn't bad at all. but state comprehensive high schools are awful. public means something different in england, it means basically a private independant school like harrow (yay!) or eton. state school are the equivalent of american public schools.
I'm only 19, but i was in private school since the age of 3. I will send my children to private school. I will take out loans to keep them there if i have to. It is my opinion that (certainly in the UK) private schools are far better than state schools.* Have said that, you still have to choose the right one for the child. [slightly off topic, but its always been my opinion, that I with a private medical plan, and private schooling, should get some sort of tax rebate from all the public schools I never went to, and all the NHS hospitals that i'll never use?] * I'd just like to support Gia's caveat, that our primary schools in England are excellent.
Amen to all of that. My daughter (now 21) and my son (now 18) were both educated privately from the age of 4 yrs throught to A levels at 18 yrs. Financially it was certainly no joke but, without any doubt whatsoever, it IS worth it in the end. One thing I have found is that people make some VERY strange assumptions about you if they discover your kids went to private school. The main one, of course, being that you are wealthy!!
And the same goes if people find out you went to private school. I have people that will no longer talk to me, because apparently its unfair that Im in the same university as them, because I had a more 'privileged entrance that made it easier for me to get the entrance grades. It makes people quite jealous, and sometimes that very difficult to deal with. Also, being from the North of England with a rather broad Bradford accent, I often get You went to private school? You dont sound like you went to private school!
Oh c'mon.. you remember the experiences I've shared. These christian schools can be pretty damned insane. Case in point... only within the past month... My step son was being silly during gym, & his gym teacher took offense, & literally called him "Evil". Coming from a teacher in a christian school,, this is no laughing matter & was done so w/ some intent. Stepson took offense, & replied,, "Well, you're of the devil". Stepson did something that probably wasn't smart, & earned him a detention, & was to be served on the day of thier season ending basketball game. The team lost. Stepson is thier starting center and scores on average 20 points a game. But, the TEACHER is supposed to be someone you can respect... And, if they're labelling kids & calling them EVIL in public... that's just not normal,, or respectable.
my son has a cronic form of ADD , and the public schools here just can't take the extra time needed to help teach at his required level . i can't really fault the school system , he just can't remain focused long enough to learn. they don't have the faculty needed to meet his special education concerns . my daughter , on the other hand , is doing great in the public school system ... { she's in second grade , and her reading and math skills are at fourth grade levels .} am i rich ? i wish ... but i think it is my responsibility to at least try to give my son the best chance to do well in school , even if it means we do without the nice little extra's at home .
I spent grades 1-8 at a private school and split high school between two public highs, one in PA, and one in NY (my family moved). The two environments are WAY different in the states at least, and both have their benefits and drawbacks. The major drawback of most private schools is the complete lack of exposure to the "real world" that most people face. The public schools on the other hand can have the drawback of having to streamline their education system for thousands and thousands of kids, many of whom don't want to learn or have little percieved incentive to do so. As a result, most public schools teach to the lowest common denominator and have much smaller advanced programs. The benefit of public schools though is the diversity of people you will meet their and your exposure, depending on where you're located, to everything, bad and good, that the general populace has to offer.
Nice to read it. It's a drain. That's why I am tight on the GAS budget. It's going for my kids. It also explains the 1987 320i in the driveway. Nice to know there is someone else out there feeling the pain.
I went to private school because the schools in my area were inadequate. The schools in my kids area are also inadequate. Unless there is a drastic improvement, they will go to private school. I am lucky that my parents could afford to send me, and my kids are lucky that their mother and I worked hard to have enough to be able to send them. edit- re: religious or parochial schools. I would love to send my kids to a Jesuit run school.
My girlfriend has gone to Catholic school (love them skirts) her entire life and she finds it to be the most horrible thing she has ever had to endure. I don't see why one would like to send their children to a place where they try to rob them of their individuality and punish them all the time for everything they do. The vast majority of the kids I've met from that school are really messed up in the head and so sheltered they will probably never understand how the real world works.
Of course, we've all seen The Wall! My neighbors home school their kids...well not really "home school" but rather a network of area families who home school their kids. All of my pre-conceived notions of home schooled children were shot when I heard their list of accomplishments/knowledge level. They keep very active lives, and one of the brothers even plays bass!
Hard to say, and it really depends on the area. I'm sending my children to school for an education and (hopefully) exposure to more of life through diversity. In New Orleans proper, the private school system is a better bet as far as education goes. In the public school system, they'll probably learn how to properly load a gun, aim, fire and clean off the prints in between classes. Bottom line: whichever offers a better education. Mike
With respect, how do you know if you didn't go to one? I went to a state comprehensive and did okay for myself. I'll send my son to a state comprehensive too.